Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

8.13.2007

An outstanding and diverse menu, an impressive group effort for a new record level of whiskey consumption, some intense early morning discussions and an abundance of shooting stars courtesy of the Perseid meteor shower all combined to make my time at Sparks Lake unforgettable. This is my second year camping at this heaven on earth though Rachel's family and friends have been coming to this same spot for almost three decades.

We arrived on Thursday, pitched our tent, tossed back a couple of cold ones and went right into dinner production where I continued my personal sparks tradition of potato prep (missed you Isaac!). Rachel's dad had a cooler full of chickens which he cooked on a rotisserie and Joanne created a wonderfully mysterious gypsy sauce to put on top of the meat. Nobody told Seaton I'm not allowed to play with sharp things and he handed me a big knife to carve the chickens with. I think Rachel actually ended up with more bandaids on than I did this trip, a rare event.

We camped in a sweet little spot overlooking the water. The second day we woke up and made coffee and a nice fire to keep us warm, it had dipped down below freezing in the night and Rocky made sure to get us up before sunrise when it was still icy. The morning is a beautiful time at sparks. This picture is the view from our tent in the morning.....After a huge breakfast I realized that I woke up wayyyy too early and promptly passed out under a blanket in the nearest hammock I could find. After a little nap it was time for sparks-style swimming. This is very similar to regular swimming except there is less actual movement and more laying in the sun on a big raft and drinking ice cold adult beverages. It's a very strenuous way to spend the afternoon and should only be performed by experienced professionals like us. I manned the kayak and took pride in delivering EIGHT ice cold adult beverages at once to the floatilla without spilling a drop. This exhausted me and I retired to the shore for a well-deserved hammock nap. We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying more ice cold adult beverages and congregating in the sun while Bruce and Sue prepared a fantastic dinner of veggie and chicken curry, papadum, naan, mango lassi and delicious sauces all followed by a medley of cookies :)

When we weren't "swimming" or eating, Rachel and I filled our time canoeing across the lake and taking a looooong hike. Rocky highly approved of both activities. He led the way on the hiking trail, it was really nice to be at a place where we could have him off the leash. He is so worn out that he has been sleeping for most of the last twenty-four hours.

The hike was a little longer than I had intended and when we got back to camp we were beat. Luckily there were delicious carnitas for dinner. We stuffed ourselves and then laid in a hammock to give our throbbing legs a break.The final day had come, Doug prepared his famous Chile Rellenos and we packed up and moved out. We packed the canoe to the brim, well actually, way above the brim, and said our farewells to Sparks Lake until next year. Thanks to everybody for making it such a great experience! I had an awesome time!